AU Tailgate plan creates 2,000 new parking spaces

The Auburn Athletics Department announced Friday a new parking and tailgating plan that creates a net gain of 2,000 free parking spaces for football Saturdays and opens up new areas of campus for tailgating for the 2013 season.

"This new plan will create a significant net gain of free parking spots and will open up more tailgating space around campus," Athletics Director Jay Jacobs said. "Our fans have told us how important parking and tailgating are, and today we are taking a significant step to improve the gameday experience. These changes are just the beginning of what will be ongoing efforts to make the gameday experience at Auburn the best it can be."

Jacobs praised the Auburn University administration and Facilities Management Division for working with the athletics department to create more parking and tailgating.

A map of the parking and tailgating plan and more information can be found HERE.

"This has been a great collaboration between Auburn Athletics and the administration," Jacobs said. "I especially want to thank (Assistant VP, Facilities Division) Dan King and his staff for coming to the table to help us get this done."

Auburn is adding more than 2,000 free parking and tailgate spots for the 2013 football season in response to a survey that said fans wanted more of each to enhance their gameday experience. Most of the new areas will be for cars, some for RVs and some strictly for tailgating.

The university is removing or relocating pipe and chains and bollards in some areas to allow more fan access. More restrooms, lighting and parking attendants are being added in several lots, along with new "tailgate drop-off" locations that allow fans to drop off their tailgate supplies closer to areas where they want to tailgate.

Auburn will offer a mix of free and paid parking and tailgating options, according to Senior Associate AD Scott Carr.

"Most of our focus was on adding more free parking spaces and opening up more space for tailgating, but some fans have told us they want hassle-free, reserved tailgating spots, so we are increasing those options as well," Carr said.

Athletics officials worked with campus facilities and parking units to find areas that had not been used and also identified under-utilized areas for parking and tailgating.

Most parking and tailgating areas will open at 4 p.m. on Fridays. The rest will open Saturday mornings before football games.

Some of the additional parking will include the South Donahue corridor between South College and Samford Avenue. Parking will be available on the grass above the curb on South Donahue and a lot will be open on the north end of Donahue adjacent to Lem Morrison Drive.

More free parking will be available near Weagle Woods behind the Forestry and Wildlife building at the corner of South Donahue and Lem Morrison; at West Samford Avenue near Duncan Drive and south of the old track on west Samford; along the outside of the intramural fields on Biggio Drive as well as the intramural field house parking lot on Biggio; at the facilities division building off of West Samford Avenue as well as farther down West Samford; and in front of the Carol Draughon Village complex, where permanent barriers are being torn down to allow fans to park and tailgate in the grass. Tailgating will be available in Weagle Woods.

Paid options include the Tailgate Guys at tailgateguysau.com, Tailgate at the Park offered by the College of Agriculture at Ag Heritage Park, available at ag.auburn.edu/tailgate, and reserved parking lots maintained by AAA Parking and available online at www.parkwhiz.com.